


fall in love again (there's enough time)

by Lire_Casander



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Malex Secret Santa 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21820693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lire_Casander/pseuds/Lire_Casander
Summary: Christmas has always been a difficult time for Alex, but this year he's up for a surprise that might change his life forever.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 12
Kudos: 91
Collections: 12 Days Of Malex 2019





	fall in love again (there's enough time)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much to everyone who's taken part in this amazing exchange! This is a special gift for all of you who've created and for those of you who offered to be part of this one way or another. I hope you all had as much fun as we did organizing the exchange. More to come next year!
> 
> Beta'ed by [moderngenius94](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moderngenius94/pseuds/moderngenius94), who graciously offered to give it a quick once-over. Title taken from Morat's newest song _Enamórate de alguien más_ , a free translation from the line _quizá me vuelva a enamorar con suficiente tiempo_.

Christmas has always been a difficult time for Alex. He doesn’t remember a time when he truly enjoyed it, but then again, he doesn’t really remember most of his childhood from before his mother left. Greg has told him that, when their mom was around, Christmas was a cheerful time, but Alex doesn’t have any recollection of it. And after she ran away, it was like Christmas was cancelled - there weren’t any presents under the tree, no decorations blurring the windows with fake snow and garlands everywhere like he’d see hanging off every surface at both Maria’s and Liz’s.

Growing up in a house run by Jesse Manes can kill all the Christmas spirit in the world. 

Then, he joined the Air Force, and he was deployed to Iraq the second Christmas he spent in the military. A war zone isn’t exactly the best place for exchanging Christmas gifts or for Christmas trees when they could be bombed any time — and even though he couldn’t miss it because he never had what everyone else experienced as _proper holiday spirit_ , Alex couldn’t help but wonder.

He’s spent the past fifteen years of his life wondering what it would be like, to have a normal Christmas for once.

Sure, he’s gotten presents from Mimi and Jim and Arturo, and from Maria and Liz when they were old enough to start earning money that didn’t come from the allowance they snatched from their parents. Alex never really had any pocket money until he started his shifts at the UFO Emporium — that was the whole reason behind him fighting his father to let him work in the first place, being able to afford his own purchases so he wouldn’t have to be subjected to whatever his father deemed suitable for him. But apart from the guitar picks and the notebooks to jot down his music that he got from Liz and Maria for Christmas during their senior year at high school, Alex has never received any gifts at all.

That’s why he’s so baffled to find a wrapped present underneath his Christmas tree.

He notices something is oddly different from Buffyʼs confused barks in the main room. Alex is still in the shower, getting ready for yet another Christmas Eve on his own, when he hears her howling. He gets out as quickly as his lack of leg allows him, throws some sweatpants on and towels at his hair damp from the shower; he grabs his crutches and tries to get out of the room without tripping over the several toys Buffy has scattered all over the house. 

“Buffy, what’s going on?” he asks as the crutches drag across the floor. “What’s all this noise?” 

He hasn’t been worried about anyone breaking into his house — itʼs been months since they all dismantled Project Shepherd and the threat that his own family meant for aliens has been erased from the world, with Jesse and Harlan behind bars, Flint doing his own time overseas and Gregory taking over the family legacy as the only one aside from Alex who had been against the whole hunting aliens ordeal. Alex doesn’t feel threatened in his own house anymore, but Buffy barking still makes him nervous. 

“Buffy,” he sighs when he reaches his beagle. She’s howling at the tree he hastily set up the weekend before. He takes in the image — the lights softly flickering, creating shadows over the surfaces in the living room, the tree standing tall in the middle of the space, and a bright green package under it. He frowns. “What’s this?” he asks, feeling as confused as Buffy sounds. “Buffy, do you know whoʼs left this here?” 

Buffy barks at him, this time sounding like she’s urging him. Alex huffs a laugh at his dog when Buffy jumps next to him and paws at his leg. “Couldn’t you have waited until I was done with my shower?” Buffy barks again, nosing his leg and licking his hand when he pets her. “I’ll go get dressed and then weʼll solve this mystery,” he promises her before retreating to his room. He sits on the bed to put his prosthesis on, checking twice the latches, before picking a t-shirt and throwing it on. All the time he thinks about the green parcel underneath his tree, wondering who might have left it. 

He has a few options, given the circumstances — heʼs given a key to his cabin to most of his friends, after Isobel claimed that he was her best friend and made herself a copy. Heʼd chuckled at her forwardness, but heʼd allowed her to have her moment of being protective of him. After that, heʼd given a key to Liz — knowing she would share it with Max, given that they were living together — and to Kyle — who, Alex knows, would share it with Jenna. Even Rosa had her own key, and once things calmed down a bit he had even put one copy on Mariaʼs palm when they had made peace after she broke up with Guerin. 

Guerin, he thinks, is the only one who doesn’t need a key. His powers can open any lock, so Alex had just kept the key he made for him deep down into his closet. 

Any of them could have sneaked into his home and left the gift, and Alex is debating within himself who might have been bold enough to break into an ex-military manʼs house guarded by a beagle. He gets out to the living room again, Buffy calmed down enough to lie down in front of the tree. 

“Letʼs see,” he announces as he limps near the tree. He can’t kneel, so he manages to sit sideways, grabbing the package and leaving it on his lap. All of a sudden he feels nervous, his hands sweating enough to make him wipe them on his sweatpants. Buffy lifts her head and growls lowly in an attempt to calm him down. Alex smiles at her and with a deep breath he weighs the gift in his hands. He examines it closely. The wrapping is neat, the corners of the package folded and glued together. It looks so thoughtfully done that Alex feels bad just for wanting to unwrap it. Buffy barks; Alex laughs and picks at one of the corners, tearing the paper and revealing something crystal underneath. Deeply interested now, Alex unwraps the whole parcel and tosses it away. 

“Oh my,” he whispers as his eyes well up. 

He’s holding a picture frame, all crystal and no metal, ready to be put on a fireplace mantel. The picture behind the glass shows him, smiling widely and free, in the middle of a group shot taken not so long ago — he has his arm around Kyleʼs shoulders, whoʼs hugging Jenna; Max is making lovey eyes to Liz while Rosaʼs giving a full-body eyeroll, and Isobel and Maria are moving their hands as though theyʼre explaining something funny. Neither of them is looking at the camera, paying little to no attention to Arturo, who was snapping the picture in the Crashdown. Alex smiles fondly as he inspects the picture closer. 

Guerin is in the far corner, looking at him from above Isobel and Maria with soft eyes, his curls all over the place. 

“Merry Christmas, Alex,” he hears at his back. He doesn’t even flinch, knowing now why Buffy hasnʼt barked at the intrusion and why he hasnʼt heard the door opening. 

Turning around from his spot on the floor, Alex faces Michael Guerin. He smiles softly, shyly, and Guerin reciprocates with a bashful smile of his own. 

They have been trying their luck at being friends, with varying degrees of success — meaning they have managed to not fall into bed together for months, but they canʼt keep their hands to each other for long. Alex knows heʼs fallen even harder for Guerin, and he knows Guerin loves him as well, but he isn’t sure whether there will _ever_ be a perfect timing for them to be together. What Alex knows for sure, though, is that he’s willing to spend his whole life trying to create the perfect moment for them to just _be_.

“Guerin—” he begins as he attempts to stand up, but he fails spectacularly. He doesn’t know how long he’s been sitting on the floor, admiring the picture, but it’s evidently enough for his flesh to be a bit asleep so he falters as he tries to get up, flailing about. Buffy rushes to his side, but he doesn’t hit the ground again; instead, he feels the air around him cushion his body and there’s a gentle push upwards until he’s standing on his feet again. “Thanks,” he says timidly, not even looking up at Guerin. He’s not only thanking him for using his powers to balance his poor equilibrium, and he knows Guerin is aware of that as well. Alex feels his cheeks burning.

The only time he can remember being this nervous around Michael Guerin is back when they were both seventeen, skirting around their feelings for each other — not knowing whether or not it was mutual — until he was being kissed in the UFO Emporium. Guerin’s intense stare is boring holes in Alex’s soul, molten and melting everything in the wake of those whiskey-colored eyed, just like it did twelve years back in time. Alex can’t help but wonder if he’s going to have a reenactment of that specific moment here, in the middle of the living room of the cabin Jim Valenti left him. He purposefully locks the rest of that memory into a box deep inside his memories — he doesn’t want to think about what happened _after_ the nervousness gave place to the giddiness and they both fell together in a heap of boneless happiness.

“I thought you’d like to have a copy,” Guerin whispers, still glued to the spot. Alex can’t fight the grin that finally explodes in his face. “I hope you like it.”

“I do,” Alex assures him. “But I haven’t got you any presents,” he begins to explain. Guerin lifts a hand and effectively shuts Alex up.

“I didn’t do it to get a gift in return,” he says. “It was going to be a surprise, some sort of Secret Sant kind of thing, but I wanted to see your face when you first had a look at our family.” It’s the way he says the words, _our family_ , that gets to Alex and makes his heart flutter. It makes sense, for him at least, to know that he has a found family — people he’s chosen to be around, to _have_ around. People who love him and who he loves in return, even if they’re not related by blood.

The lights flicker once again, shadows dancing around them and creating figures on the walls. Buffy scratches the floor with her paws, making her presence noticeable, but Alex finds himself lost in the magnetic pull that’s Michael Guerin. 

“You wanted to give me—a family?” he asks cautiously. 

“You already have a family, Alex,” Guerin scoffs. “I just wanted to give you a reminder to put on your mantelpiece.”

Guerin’s eyes travel from Alex’s face to his lips, Alex can follow the movement easily because Guerin is anything but subtle. The nervousness from before has given way to a comfortable silence between them, while Alex tries to understand the implications of this little moment they’re having. His mind wanders to all those Christmas movies he’s been watching non-stop whenever he hasn’t been working, and he shivers.

Pinned under Guerin’s gaze, with Buffy happily pawing at them, Alex knows exactly what he should do — what he should have done the very first moment he realized that neither Guerin nor himself were suited to _not_ be together.

“I have something for you,” he announces, proud at how his voice only quivers ever so slightly. 

“You don’t have to,” Guerin protests feebly, but Alex shakes his head and limps over to his room. Guerin doesn’t follow him — they have been working on boundaries recently — and when he makes it back with a small brown box in his hands, Guerin frowns in confusion. “Alex—”

“I know you don’t need it,” Alex begins, stretching out his hand and offering the box, which isn’t wrapped. “But I got it anyway.” Guerin takes the box and opens the tiny lid, revealing a shiny new key. “I want you to feel like you can come here whenever you want—not that you don’t do that already but—”

“You made a key copy of your house for _me_?” Guerin asks. Alex coughs nervously, hand up to rub the back of his neck. “Why?”

“I could ask you the same,” Alex retorts. “You gave me a reminder of family. I love you for that.”

Only when the words escape his mouth does Alex realize what he’s said. They’ve been skirting around this particular issue, knowing they loved each other but never voicing it out loud; he’s had the feeling that saying the words would scare Guerin away and break the magic of whatever it is that they have going on.

For a split second Alex fears Guerin is going to turn around and leave, but he simply shakes his head and huffs out a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Alex demands. He’s got the distinct feeling that he’s being laughed at. “Are you laughing at _me_?”

“Not you, never _at_ you,” Guerin says soothingly. “Present tense, huh?”

Alex doesn’t need any further explanation. For long weeks they have been talking, trying to found their new relationship, whatever it is, on communication instead of half-spoken truths. He’s learned that Guerin’s still itchy about his own use of past tense during the conversation that changed both their lives forever.

“Never past tense, Guerin,” he assures. “It was never the case.”

“I love you,” Guerin blurts before stepping forward and cradling Alex’s face in his calloused hands. “I’ve always loved you. You’re my family as well, Alex.”

Alex bites his lower lip. “Michael,” he mutters, leaning up into the touch as Guerin tightens his grip on him at the use of his given name for the first time in years. “I love you too,” he whispers before giving up any pretense and kissing him soundly, Buffy happily barking in the background.


End file.
